The present invention relates to an electronic gaming device, such as a video poker machine, and a method for operating the same.
Slot machines generate over ten billion dollars per year in revenue for United States casinos, with individual machines typically earning between fifty and one hundred fifty dollars per day. One of the fastest growing segments of slot machine play is video poker, a game in which various elements of draw poker are played using a computer with a video display.
The basic game of video poker is played on an electronic video poker machine. A player is dealt an initial hand of five cards from a standard deck of fifty-two cards. The five cards are randomly chosen by the processor of the video poker machine and displayed to the player on a video screen. With a goal of maximizing the value of his hand, the player decides which cards, if any, to hold, and which cards, if any, to discard. Given the initial band, the player may decide to bold all five of his cards. To do this, he presses a button labeled "hold" under each displayed card.
Alternatively, the player may decide to hold a subset of the five cards dealt to him in his initial hand. In this case, the player presses the "hold" button under each card be decides to hold. After the player has decided which cards to bold, he presses a button labeled "deal." This causes the computer to discard the cards that the player has decided not to hold and replace them with draw cards that have been randomly selected from the remaining forty-seven cards of the deck.
After the deal button has been pressed, the ranking of the final hand of the player is evaluated by the computer. If the player's final hand matches a predetermined combination, such as a Full House or Three of a Kind, then the player is awarded a payout in the form of either coins or play credits in accordance with a payout table.
The payout table is stored in a memory of the computer and is also displayed on a schedule printed on the machine or on a video screen for the player to view. The payout for a particular final hand increases with the ranking of the hand. Thus, hands with higher poker rankings are awarded more play credits or coins. For example, very rare poker hands such as a Royal Flush are awarded payouts of 800-to-1 in some game variations.
FIG. 1 depicts a prior art payout database 10 for a "Jacks or Better" video poker game. Such a database is typically stored in a memory of a conventional video poker machine. The payout database 10 includes records A-J, each of which include fields 15 and 20. For ease of reference, a particular location (intersection of a row and column) within this and other tables herein will be referred to by the concatenated field number and record letter. Such locations will be referred to herein as "cells." For example, cell 15A, containing "ROYAL FLUSH," refers to the location defined by field 15 of record A (the intersection of column 15 and row A).
Cells 15A-15J each indicate a final hand that is possible for a player to receive, given an initial hand of five cards. Cells 20A-20J each indicate a payout (for each $1 wagered) that the associated final hand will pay if it is received. For example, if a player receives a "FULL HOUSE" as a final hand (cell 15D), then the associated payout would be $9 (cell 20D).
A modified video poker machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,023 to Wood. According to that patent, a video poker machine is programmed to calculate the expected value of each of the thirty-two possible discard strategies that a player may execute. After a player has selected a discard strategy, the machine adjusts the payouts until the expected value of the executed strategy is nearly equivalent to that of the optimum strategy. In this way, the video poker game is able to provide payouts to players that are not effected by their skill or experience level.
In addition to the games of video poker described above, other variations which include wild cards and jokers are also played, such as "Joker Poker," "Deuces Wild," and "Bonus Poker." Further information on these and other video poker games, payout tables and calculations, and game strategies may be found in Paymar, D., "Video Poker Precision Play," (published by Enhanceware of Las Vegas, Nev.).
Conventional electronic gaming devices configured to play video poker have a number of disadvantages. Specifically, the number of players who can execute perfect or near-perfect game strategies has increased dramatically. This can be attributed to an increase in the number of tutorial materials that teach such game strategies, which materials have become readily available to players via the Internet, commercial software, and books. Further, competition among casinos to attract video poker players has resulted in video poker machines being programmed to pay out in excess of 100% (assuming perfect playing strategy), which has provided additional incentive for players to learn game strategies from the tutorial materials. The foregoing has increased the aggregate amount of payouts to players and thus decreased profits for the casinos.
Additionally, players initially were attracted to conventional video poker games because of the requirement for the players to use analytical thought and decision making during game play. However, game strategies have not changed much since the introduction of video poker. Indeed, conventional video poker machines do not offer players a chance to execute more complex and non-conventional strategies in order to obtain higher payouts. Consequently, some players have become bored with, and thus lost interest in, conventional video poker games.
In view of the above, there is a substantial need for an electronic gaming device such as a video poker machine, and method for operating the same, that enables casinos to increase revenue and, at the same time, is more interesting for players to play.